Total Must get Serious About Seeking a Solution to the Unoffical Dispute at Lindsey Says Unite

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said: "This agreement is a smoke screen designed to deflect criticism away from those who brought our banking system to its knees. The industry remains over populated with the greedy, arrogant and corrupt.

September 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Commenting on the announcement today (Thursday) by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) of its new plan for the future of the business, Unite national secretary for the automotive sector, Dave Osborne said: "Earlier this year, this company and our union agreed a framework agreement intended to support JLR through this tough economic period. Our members said then that JLR could not be trusted to uphold that agreement.

August 5th, 2009 LONDON - Date: Thursday, 6th August 2009 Time: 9.30am - 11.30am Location: The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, EC1Y 4SD Workers from Barclays are today (Thursday) protesting outside the Barclays shareholder meeting as part of their dispute regarding pensions. Unite members will carry placards stating: "Hands off our pensions" to highlight their anger at proposals by Barclays to close their final salary pension scheme.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's largest union, today (Tuesday) welcomes the BERR Select Committee report entitled 'Post offices- securing their future', but expresses disappointment that the committee has not been bold enough in recognising that a bank based at the Post Office would only deliver a number of the points that the committee acknowledges in its report. Paul Reuter, Unite National Officer responsible for the Post Office, said: "This is a good report which acknowledges that there should be no more branch closures.

April 1st, 2009 LONDON - Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary, said: "The announcement by Aviva to cut 1,100 staff will cause alarm across the insurance industry. Today we see a scenario where a company that is continuing to deliver positive results is slashing the staff that have enabled them to weather the current financial storm.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - Unite has accused HSBC of "creative accountancy" with jobs as HSBC concedes that the true number of job cuts is in fact 2,900 as the union has rightly claimed, and not 1,200 as HSBC had originally claimed. Derek Simpson, Unite Joint General Secretary, said: "As if it was not bad enough for staff of HSBC to hear from the media that their jobs are at risk, we now have a situation where the company is failing to come clean with the true extent of these cuts.

March 18th, 2009 LIVERPOOL, England - When: 10.00 am, Saturday 21st March 2009 - Where: Myrtle Parade/Bedford Street, Liverpool (see below) Hundreds of unemployed construction workers from across the North West will rally in Liverpool city centre on Saturday 21st March calling for fair access to jobs on UK engineering and construction projects. Unite is leading the fight to stop the growing problem of UK workers being refused work from important engineering and construction projects in the UK.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's biggest civil air transport union, welcomes the announcement today (Friday) from the High Court that the challenge to the expansion of Stansted airport has been suspended. Steve Turner, Unite National Officer, said: "We are delighted at this decision today and hope we can now move on and develop an expansion programme at Stansted airport.

March 11th, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's largest union, reacted angrily today (Thursday) to the growing threat to jobs at United Biscuits' Liverpool site posed by a restructuring programme which could see 125 jobs offshored to India. The move has shocked workers because it is in stark contrast to the record company profits announced last year which saw workers receive bonuses and star awards for their achievements.

March 10th, 2009 LONDON - Unite, the UK's biggest civil air transport union, is balloting its members working at Manchester Airport for industrial action in a dispute over restructuring which has resulted in job cuts, pay cuts and the introduction of an unpopular shift pattern. Over 100 Swissport ground handling staff at the airport, including baggage handlers and ramp operatives, will receive ballot papers this weekend.

June 23rd, 2009 Unions meeting with employers over refinery strikeLONDON — Union leaders met with construction bosses Tuesday in an effort to resolve an acrimonious industrial dispute that has led to walkouts across the British energy sector. The UNITE union said it was in talks with the companies contracted to work at Total's Lindsey Oil Refinery in northern England, where more than 600 workers were fired after staging unauthorized strikes over job losses.

June 18th, 2009 Strikes spread across northern EnglandLONDON — Unofficial strikes by energy workers spread across Britain Thursday as oil refinery and power station workers protested job losses. Energy company Total SA said in a statement that 1,200 construction workers at its Lindsey oil refinery in northeast England walked out a few days ago in protest over 51 job losses at the site.

June 19th, 2009 Oil company fires UK workers over jobs disputeLONDON — British contract workers walked off their jobs at British energy facilities Friday, part of an escalating dispute triggered by the employment of foreign workers. Tensions flared after French oil and gas company Total fired more than 600 contract workers Thursday for participating in a wildcat strike at its Lindsey Oil Refinery in northern England.

February 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Demonstrators at an oil refinery in Britain were Wednesday urged to abandon their protest after a deal was reached in marathon talks between trade unions and employers at the plant owned by French energy company Total. Trade union officials said they had won a pledge from management at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, eastern England, that 100 new jobs would be created for British workers at the plant, the equivalent of 50 percent of the 200 posts under dispute.

September 17th, 2009 Union returning to AFL-CIOPITTSBURGH — One of the unions that left the AFL-CIO in a bitter dispute that split the labor movement four years ago is coming back to the labor federation. The union of hotel, restaurant and clothing workers known as UNITE HERE is bringing its 265,000 members back a day after Richard Trumka became the newest AFL-CIO president.

January 19th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, who presided over the razing of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, Tuesday said he had a 'permanent solution' to the dispute after parting ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 'I feel that a permanent solution to the Ayodhya temple tangle lies in an amicable settlement,' said Singh who had once proudly proclaimed 'credit' for ensuring the December 1992 demolition of the 16th century Babri mosque in the ancient temple town by militant Hindus.

May 29th, 2009 Leader of UNITE HERE resigns as labor feud growsWASHINGTON — The long-simmering clash between rival factions at the labor union UNITE HERE grew increasingly bitter on Friday as its general president resigned and accused his opponents of breaking into his office to steal sensitive files. It's the latest turn in a nasty divorce that has split the union of roughly 400,000 hotel, restaurant and clothing workers and diverted millions into a drawn out legal dispute.

January 29th, 2009 LONDON - Workers across Britain staged unofficial walkouts Friday in spreading protest over the hiring of foreigners at British refineries. Angry workers have walked out of a dozen refineries across Britain this week saying construction projects bagged by European companies were now planning to hire foreign labour.

July 23rd, 2009 Iraqi premier: Kurdish-Arab dispute must be solvedWASHINGTON — Iraq's prime minister says the divisions between the Kurds in Iraq's north and the rest of the country are one of the most dangerous challenges facing his country. Iraq's Kurdish region is locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with the central government over oil-rich land.

December 31st, 2008 NEW DELHI - The six-year-old Bajaj family dispute over the division of group companies and assets came to an end Thursday with brothers Rahul Bajaj and Shishir Bajaj withdrawing their petitions from the Company Law Board (CLB). The Bajaj family feud first hit headlines in 2002, when Shishir Bajaj accused his elder brother of trying to oust him from the chairmanship of Bajaj Sevashram, one of the group holding companies.